Tick, Tick, Tick
by Belle1228
Summary: What happens when Steph's biological clock starts ticking and she decides to take Ranger up on his offer to get her pregnant? Babe all the way, no cupcakes harmed
1. The Favor

**Chapter 1**

My name is Stephanie Plum and something strange has happened to me. Since the "incident" that the world likes to call a marriage to Dickie Orr I have had no want or need to get married, have children, or be tied down to one person. Joe Morelli has asked me numerous times, and most women in Trenton would jump at that opportunity but I cannot do it. I broke it off with him two months ago and we've kept it to ourselves. Now after my birthday I keep having these weird dreams and I feel like my biological clock is ticking. I want to have a baby.

I cannot just go have a one night stand and hope I get pregnant, I don't do casual sex and goodness only knows what kind of weirdo I'd end up with knowing my luck. I can't ask Morelli because asking him would come with a ring and a whole lot of other things that I do not want to do. I thought about going to a sperm bank, but I think my Mother would kill over at that option. Plus, I couldn't imagine having a baby with someone I've never met (not to mention that I heard that Mooch Morelli had recently been making donations to the local sperm bank, ewwww we're not even going to go there.) So I guess that brings me to where I'm at now, asking the biggest favor of my life. I don't even know if favor would describe what I'm about to do, but it's the only word close to it. I'm going to go have dinner on 7 with Ranger and talk to him about the situation.

As I fob my way to the 7th floor my stomach is full of butterflies. I don't know how to even bring this up, I have not seen Ranger in 3 months and he just got back into town about 4 days ago. Julie turned 18 and wanted to go on a trip around Europe, so he took her. I'm so glad that they have gotten as close as they have over the past few years and I only hope it keeps up when she starts at Princeton in a few months. I smell Ella's cooking and can feel my mouth watering, nothing is better than Ella's cooking, well maybe a few things but nothing that is a good conversation at the dinner table.

"Ranger, I'm so glad to see you," I say as I hug him and kiss him on the cheek when I enter the apartment. "I missed you and I have something to talk to you about"

"Babe, I missed you too. I actually got you a gift, Julie insisted I bring you back some chocolate from Belgium." He leaned down and kissed me on the lips and put his arm around me as he led me to the table.

"Chocolate, you know the way to my heart. Tell Julie I said thanks when you talk to her again." I said as I poured a glass of wine and we began to eat the chicken and rice that Ella made.

After dinner was cleaned up we made our way to the living room and sat on the couch. I was really nervous to have this conversation, but I guess I just needed to rip the band-aid off and get it over with.

"Ranger, you told me a long time ago that you would do anything for me. There is no price for what we do for one another." I started out.

"Yeah, but you're making me nervous Babe, what do you need? Is someone after you again?" Ranger raised an eyebrow at me.

"No, no one is after me. Let me start at the beginning. About a month after you left Morelli and I broke it off for good. No one really knows because we haven't made it "Burg news". Lately my biological clock has been ticking, and I've decided I want a baby. You told me once that you would get me pregnant and I wanted to see if you would still make good on that offer?"

A lot of different emotions passed through Ranger's eyes before he finally answered me. "Yes Babe, I will do that for you if that is what you want."

"Yes that is what I want. Now since you're on board I will talk to my doctor and see what you need to do so we can get your sperm to their office and get everything started. You don't know what this means to me Ranger." I said with a tear in my eye.

"Talk to the doctor? Let me get something clear Babe, if we're making a baby we're doing it the old fashion way with a bed and naked skin. We're not having a test tube baby." Ranger said as he kissed me on the lips.

Holy hot flash, what in the hell did I just get myself into?


	2. The Response

**Chapter 2**

**SPOV**

"With a bed and naked skin?" I squeaked.

"Yeah Babe, how did you see this going down?" Ranger asked.

"Well, I figured you'd go to the doctor and give a sperm donation and then my doctor would take care of the rest. Then hopefully nine months later I'd have a baby. Pretty simple." I said with a shaky voice.

"Sperm donation? Not going to happen, I'm not a sperm donator. This would be our child not just yours. When I offered to get you pregnant I meant it, but there was a lot more to it than just a sperm donation. I love you Stephanie and having a baby isn't something I can see myself participating in and just walking away from. I regret giving up Julie and I could not see myself doing that with another child." Ranger said as he grabbed my hand.

"Well I'm sorry but I don't see the situation that way. I want a baby, not a marriage, not a relationship, and most of all not another person that is going to try to take care of us. I wanted a donation from you because I love you and care about you, not to try to bring you into a relationship and make a happy family. If I wanted the marriage and relationship to go with it I would have gone to Morelli with this."

"Quit saying donation, we're not talking about me giving my coffee table to Goodwill we're talking about making a human life!" Ranger roared, "I know that you're emotional right now, and I'm going to let the Morelli comment slide because you know as well as I do that comparing me to Morelli is not a road we want to go down. If that is honestly the way you feel about the situation than maybe I cannot provide you with what you need, maybe you need to find someone else to help you with this situation."

"You are the one that said you didn't do stupid things like kids and marriage! I figured you would be on board with this since you didn't want a wife or any more children." I said with a raised voice.

"Stephanie, you figured wrong! I love you too damn much to just walk away, so for once I'm just going to have to tell you no. I can't help you with this situation."

"Fine," I huffed, "I will figure out another way to get what I want. Bye Ranger."

**RPOV**

Madre Dios! I knew the day that woman walked into the diner that she'd be the death of me. As much as I tried not to I have fallen head over heels in love with her and I couldn't stand knowing that we had a child somewhere out there and I wasn't a part of either of their lives. I missed a lot of Julie's life until I finally got my head of my ass and starting being there for her. We bonded a lot over the past 3 months during our trip and she got me to open up to her about Stephanie. She made me promise to talk to Stephanie and explain to her how my life had changed and that I wanted her to be a bigger part of it. I had ever intention of talking to her later in the week, taking her out to dinner, but as anything else that goes on with Stephanie that didn't turn out as planned.

She called me and told me she had something important that she needed to talk to me about, and to be honest I was hoping it was her telling me that her and cop were done for good. This was not what I was expecting, and the fact that she just wanted sperm from me really bothered me. I thought we were more to one another than me basically being a way to facilitate her need for a child. I love her and she loves me, I've just got to work to remind her of that. The horrible feeling that filled my body as she left the apartment, I think I finally understand how she felt when I told her to work on her relationship with Morelli. It hurts, it hurts like hell! I need work through some of this aggression, so I put on my gym clothes and head downstairs. If it gets too bad I'll call Lester down to spar with me.


	3. The Silent Confession

**As a thank you for all the support here is an extra chapter for tonight, I love the reviews and they make me want to write faster :)

Chapter 3

As I pull back into my apartment building I'm at a loss for words. I would have expected this situation to go down in a similar fashion if I was having that conversation with Morelli, but not Ranger. Its not that I don't love Ranger, because I do, a lot more that I probably should. I just cannot open myself up to making this child "naturally", it wouldn't be casual to me and the aftermath of the situation could potentially destroy me. I want this to be Ranger's child because I love him and since I don't feel like I can have all of him then I will always have a piece of him with me.

The other thing that Ranger, or anyone else for that matter does not know is that I wanted to go the artificial route of getting pregnant because I'm not sure I can get pregnant naturally. I had a fertility test run when I first thought about having a child and found out I'm not overly fertile. I hate saying this but it doesn't really surprise me. As many "close calls" as I've had with Ranger and Morelli over the years and none of them have resulted in pregnancy I should have suspected something was up. I broke it off with Morelli shortly after I got my test results in. Morelli wanted kids, the whole family life, and knowing I might never be able to provide him with these things made me realize that I needed to let him find someone who would be able to provide him with these things. I love Morelli a lot more than I actually realized and even though it would be getting rid of my comfort blanket I loved him enough to let him go and find his true love that could give him what he wanted.

Ranger was out of town at time but my thoughts kept drifting back to him. I loved him with everything that I am, but I have never felt like he would ever settle down and want to have a family. Then I remembered him telling me he would get me pregnant and realized this might be my opportunity to have the child I wanted, with the guy I wanted, and if I could not become pregnant the only person it would hurt would be me. I couldn't bare the thought of dragging someone else down that road with me. Then Ranger comes back at me with wanting to make the child naturally and having a relationship. I have to admit it threw me for a loop, it made me angry because I felt that everything he had told me over the years had been a big lie. If he wanted to have a relationship now why not before? I was really harsh about the situation and I really wasn't thinking about what was coming out of my mouth. I really want to be able to fix this, but I don't know if I can. Heck, I don't even know where to start.

-Just a short chapter to hold you over tonight :)


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